Only a Halliwell
by The cursed child
Summary: Piper thought that only Halliwells fell in love with demons. Maybe Chris isn't an exception to that rule, but a Halliwell himself.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: My first (and probably last) Chris revelation fic. **

Piper is walking down the stairs when it happens. A basket with clean clothes rests on her hip, freshly washed and still warm. Normally, she folds the shirts and jeans in her bedroom, but Wyatt is playing downstairs with his toys and she doesn't feel like tearing him away from them just so she can watch him.

The short walk from the laundry room and back to her baby boy gives her the time she needs to ponder the chaos of the last few weeks.

The stranger that had been more or less living at the house was far more complicated than any of them had suspected. He was young, younger than any of them had guessed, but very much involved in the war against her only child.

That part hadn't really sunk in yet. Wyatt, who was arguably the most powerful witch in the world would somehow turn into the evil force that rules the planet in the future.

Would she really fail as a mother, or was she not around in the future? Would she go with death without a fight, leaving her son behind like her mother did to her? And where was Leo? The guy was immortal and an elder, not really material for the father of the source.

Chris, who was barely out of his teens, was the one sent back to save the world. What adult would be stupid enough to sent a boy to rescue Wyatt from himself? Couldn't they have sent someone the sisters at least knew, someone with experience?

That was not right. Chris was many things, but inexperienced wasn't one of them. He was scarily resourceful, with witches and demons alike. The boy seemed the weave a social net with every magical creature that he encountered on his trips to the underworld and upstairs.

That was probably Bianca's influence she pondered. The sister's time with Cole had definitely helped with their never-ending battle against evil. Funny, she thought only Halliwells fell in love with demons.

The thought stopped her in her tracks, the laundry basket slipping out of her grip and rolling down the last stair. Only Halliwells…

Piper shakes her head with a smile on her face, scolding herself for being so silly, sighing at the scattered clothes.

Once everything is back on her hip she makes her way to the kitchen, stopping by Wyatt's spot on the carpet to place a kiss on his head. He smiles at her and shows off his brand-new firetruck.

"I just had the weirdest idea," she tells Wyatt, "that Chris was family."

Her son looks at her and reaches for her offered hand. Piper is not sure what the look is supposed to mean, but she knows that Wyatt trusts the time-traveler. Somehow, she trusts his judgement more than her own these days.

They walk to the kitchen together, and she lets Wyatt help her take the cookies out off the oven. Piper takes the time to babble on and on about every subject she can think up. From their trip this weekend to the last time they saw his father, making sure to banish Chris out off the conversation.

It's a good thing too, because the man in question orbs in behind her and moves to the sink to wash his hands. Piper refuses to ask him what kind of slime that is, offers him a cookie instead.

"Thanks, Piper," says the time traveler. He is already grabbing two pots and opening the potions cabinet with his unoccupied hand, munching on his snack with the other.

He is getting scarily thin, she notices. She knows it's because he is working harder than ever, trying to distance himself from his fiancee's death. Her family has been letting him do his thing, watching their Whitelighter closely, but assisting as little as they can get away with.

She suddenly feels guilty for leaving him alone. Her idea might have been ridiculous, but he does know her family in the future, and from the way he already knew his way around the house, he knows them well.

She grabs the left-overs from breakfast, which he missed, and gathers them on a plate. Piper shoves him onto a chair and hands him the food, snatching a croissant for Wyatt.

"Piper, " he protests, rising and moving back to his potions.

"Listen, young man," she says, shaking her finger in the most threathening way she can, "You need to eat before you faint while you're vanquishing demons. So eat the food and let me finish this."

She doesn't think she'll actually get away with ordering him to do anything, but he looks properly chastised and turns to his lunch.

She looks at the potion, familiar with the recipe. "You just finished step six, right?" she asks for confirmation. He nods.

They work and eat in pass while the food disappears from its plate and the potion bubbles noisily. The time traveler eventually stands up to retrieve the milk from the fridge and pours a glass for her son without being asked.

She washes her hands and lets the potion rest a couple of minutes, folding her clothes while she waits for the last step. She gets carried away, and forgets her last ingredient, but sees Chris throw it in instead.

Normally she would let this go, after all, Chris seems to be brilliant with potions, but there is a catch this time.

The last ingredient is not part of the original recipe, and only exists in her head. It is not written down anywhere, and the first piece of the puzzle clicks in her mind.

"I taught you how to make potions, didn't I?"

Chris looks up, only slightly startled. He doesn't bother covering this one up, knowing he's been caught. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"The last ingredient is my recipe, I haven't told anyone else yet."

He considers mentioning that she should assume that she actually added her step to the Book of Shadows in the future, but knows it to be untrue. He's the only one she taught that step, even Wyatt doesn't know it. Chris doesn't know why that is, but he likes sharing this secret with his mom, just like he knows every secret cooking recipe she ever thought up.

Piper's youngest son is the one that takes over cooking for the whole family when she dies, and he itches to ask her to cook with him sometime. He doesn't though, knowing that getting close to her again will get them all killed.

So he nods in defeat, a part of him wants her to know this, wants her to realize that they were close in the future, feel a little bit more accepted.

He bottles the potion and looks ready to orb away, stopped at the last moment by Piper's voice.

"Stop by for dinner, alright?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hey guys! Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows. Each notification makes me smile :). I'm going on a five-day-long camping trip, and my birthday is the day I come back, so I'm sorry to say that the next update will most likely be in a week. Enjoy this chapter like I enjoyed writing it. I really miss the Charmed-universe. Don't you? **

He does stop by for dinner. Actually, he is two hours early, covered in the same slime as he was that afternoon.

Piper wrinkles her nose, and tells him that he has plenty of time to take a shower before dinner. He smiles gratefully and orbs himself straight to the shower, keeping the slime neatly of the floor.

She hums to herself as she stirs the sauce. Wyatt went to sleep without a fuss, only two demons this week and she finally has time to make her lasagne from scratch again.

The recipe lies in front of her, but she ignores it, slicing and dicing her veggies. The thoughtless movements allow her to ponder Chris again, which she has been doing obsessively since her 'revelation' this afternoon.

The witch doesn't exactly know how old her Whitelighter is, but if she had to guess he would be around 22. That would mean that Chris had been or would be born somewher between last year and the next three.

None of their magical friends have had children or are pregnant right now, so she's pretty sure that they meet this timeline's version of him because he's a friend of Wyatt's. Their respective ages would allow it, and it would explain why Chris seems so familiar with them.

It's strange though, because which teenage boys would be so close that Chris would go back in time to save Wyatt. Suddenly, her theory doesn't sound all that silly. Because family would do that for each other.

She wants to consider this more closely, but the object of her thoughts shows up clean and shaven in the kitchen. He takes a seat and leaves through the Book of Shadows, making notes when he finds new targets.

The baby monitor goes off, Wyatt crying loudly. Piper's pretty sure he's been having nightmares, and worriedly glances upstairs.

"Can you watch the sauce?" she asks her companion. He finally looks up and nods, turning back to the book once she's out of sight.

It takes her twenty minutes to calm Wyatt down and get him back to sleep . She hopes that Leo will visit him tonight. Maybe seeing his father will help a little.

When she gets back downstairs, she finds her maybe-family member throwing herbs into the sauce and kneeding the pasta dough with experienced hands. The recipe has vanished from the table and the potions mess from lunch has been cleaned up.

She watches him from her place by the door, reluctant to interrupt him.

If he is indeed family, he is either her nephew or her son. The idea itself is almost enough to make her back off, but her curiosity prevails. Right now, Phoebe and Paige are both more likely to have a child than her. Both are in commited relationships, and she knows her oldest sister really wants a daughter.

In this case though, she is leaning more toward Paige. Jason and Phoebe are both blond, and though she isn't good at any type of bonestructure as a way to identify parents, she knows that this equation doesn't equal the dark hair Chris has.

Richard as the father seems a lot more likely. If it is true, Chris is too good at pretending to be okay with his family ignoring and critizising him. They have said a lot of hurtful things to him, and shame washes over her.

She could ask him out right, but she is afraid of the answer. Piper resolves to figure out who he is exactly, wait until she has proof. Part of the reason is mind-freezing terror, but the other part just needs him to be unable to deny it.

The only plan she has right now is to keep her suspicion from Phoebe, because the girl can't keep a secret to save her life. She feels like she needs to share it with someone, but Paige will tell Phoebe, and it's not like she has any close magical friends.

She feels a glass being pressed into her hand, and opens her eyes to find Chris with a genuine smile in front of her. He has a beer in his hand, but her glass is filled with juice. His choice of drinks intrigues her, but she lets it slide.

Their dinner is in the oven, and she wonders if one of her sisters is going to stop by, or if she will be sharing the meal with her nephew/son. They clean up together, talking about the demons he hunted today.

She suddenly notices that he always talks about work as a way to avoid any personal questions. His story makes enough sense at the start and at the end, but he hurries through the middle. Chris is a great storyteller, so the jump seems strange.

"What did you do with the potion?" she asks, knowing that he had four vials and threw only three by his account.

"It shattered," he replies curtly.

She lays a hand on his arm to calm him, and while she sees nothing on his face, she feels the muscle tense under her fingers. Just to test, she increases the pressure, not enough to hurt in normal circumstances, but obviously hurting now. She wastes no time letting go and rolling up the sleeve of her unwilling patient.

A torn cloth, not dirty, but not clean either, covers his arm. She tuts in disapproval. She unties the flat and sloppy knot, uncovering the blisters underneath. The cloth sticks to the puss that oozes from them, and any cleaning he might have done in the shower has already been nullified. She looks him in the eye, and he looks back sheepishly.

"We have an emergency kit, you know. Several, in fact." To proof her point, she grabs one of them from the cabinet beneath the sink. Chris has taken his time sitting down, rolling up his sleeve even further.

She puts the kit on the table and moves to the sink to fill a bowl with water. When she turns back to the man, he's already struggling with bandaging his arm again. Frustrated, she taps his hand and traps it to the table until he stops struggling.

Chris is definitely independent, unused to people taking care of him. With that realization resurfaces the memory where he tells them all that his family is death. How many of them are left in the future? None?

"When was the last time someone did this for you?" she asks.

Chris doesn't look up. His eyes are mesmerized by the gentle administrations of his mother, distracting him from any potential future consequences. "Almost a decade," he murmurs distracted.

It takes everything Piper has not to falter. Just over a decade until they are all unable to take care of their children and nephews, that's how long they have left unless Chris manages to change the future, and maybe even then…

"Does Wyatt become evil because I die?"

The question is out of her mouth before she can stop it.

"What? No! Of course not, you're a great mom." Just like with his mother, the words are out of his mouth before he has the chance to apply his brain filter.

"So I am dead."

His silence is all the confirmation she needs. "Phoebe and Paige, too?" she pushes.

"Piper," he scolds, "you know I can't tell you that."

She sighs, knowing she pushed too hard, and finishes bandaging him up. With great timing, the oven rings, announcing that the lasagna is finished.


	3. Chapter 3

Dinner is silent at first, both processing their own troubles, Piper trying to deal with being dead, leaving her child behind.

Once they get talking it gets better. They find themselves discussing food and the occasional potion. Mother and son have finally found something they have in common.

Chris doesn't let anything slip. He is ridiculously careful with everything he says about potions and the future. Recipes are fair game, though. He is unguarded with the subject, and from the way he talks she gets a vibe. Piper is pretty sure that no matter who his mother is, she raised him. Which means that his mother, one of her sisters, is dead. Or of course the possibility that he is her son, Wyatt's little brother.

She aches to talk about it with him. The future is an unclear blur, and she longs to know more about it, more about him. There are just too many things she's said that she can't take back. She kicked him out off his home, stashes him in the club at night.

God, he's been sleeping on the couch in her office for months. Her motherly instincts are in conflict. On one hand she wants to clear out a bedroom for him, but she's very aware that if she pushes too soon, he'll back away.

When the dish has been practically licked clean, she picks it up and moves to the kitchen, intent on finding something in the fridge that can serve as dessert.

"Chris!" she yells to her charge. Maybe he has a great idea hidden in his brain. He doesn't answer.

The witch knows he's gone before she sees the empty table. There is a note in the place her plate occupied. His handwritting is surprisingly legible. It reads: You are a great mom.

He has underlined the fourth word multiple times. The note makes her eyes water. She really needed someone to say that. The last months have been hard. The single mom has been doubting her own abilities a lot.

The baby monitor goes off again. She slips the note of praise into her pocket and makes her way upstairs. That´s when she hears Leo´s voice over the device. Her son´s father is quieting their baby. Leo is talking softly to a crying Wyatt.

She knows she should go back downstairs. The truth is, she feels lonely. Most of the time its only her and Wyatt in the house. Talking to Chris has certainly lifted her spirit, but she needs Leo. Her sisters are gone most of the week. It´s getting drastic enough that she only sees them in their trips to the underworld.

" Piper!" Leo shouldn't be this surprised to see her. "I'll go," her sort-of-husband says quickly, putting their son back in bed.

"Don't," she whispers, mindful of the sleepy baby boy. "It's okay, you know."

Leo runs a hand through his hair. He feels quite sheepish, but is calmed by the smile on Pipers face.

"I just needed to see him again. I'm worried. Chris said that he's not sure he's gonna solve this in time."

"Since when do you and Chris get along?" Piper asks. It's not that she objects, but the two have been fighting since they met.

The Elder just shrugs and avoids the subject. She wonders if he is around while Chris grows up. It is a bad thing if he is, because while Leo hate for the Whitelighter was fueled by his mistrust in him, or maybe the other way around, Chris' hate was genuine from the beginning.

"About that," she starts. She needs to share her suspicion. There is a bubble close to bursting in her chest. "I think he grew up here. With me."

Leo, aided by his recent experience as an Elder, manages to wait with an incredulous shout until he has closed the door to Wyatt's bedroom. "What?"

She gestures for him to follow her, unwilling to wake their boy up. They make it downstairs before speaking any further on the subject.

"I taught Chris how to cook."

He looks kinda impressed, but not convinced. "That's not proof, Piper," he chides. He is reluctant to even consider the idea.

She sighs. "He knew his way around the house, he knows most of my secret recipes, he's half-whitelighter and half-witch."

The fact of the last point hasn't really sunk in for Leo until she says it out loud. "Wait, you think he's ours?" he speculates.

Frankly, that's not one that Piper considered. She had been leaning toward the theory that the Whitelighter part is Paige's, and that her youngest sister is dead, leaving her to raise her nephew. She doesn't see herself and Leo have another child. Too much has happened.

Maybe in the future they stayed together longer, had another chance.

She treats his question as a rhetorical one, and he doesn't seem to in her head, it's almost too easy to answer. The note tells her all she needs to know. It was too personal for it not to be 100% truth.

Chris is Wyatt's brother.


	4. Chapter 4

"Is it common in your time?" Piper asks the next day. She doesn't bring up the note, his wound or his abrupt departure.

Leo left seconds after she had her life-changing revelation. He had been called upstairs by the other Elders. It's obvious that he doesn't believe her. Maybe like her, he doesn't want to believe, and is as much in denial as she has been for months.

Mother and son are in the attic, bending over potions and the Book of Shadows respectively. She has been agonizing over what she is going to say to him all night, tossing and turning and evading blissful sleep.

Since Chris' arrival in this timeline, he has been insulted, neglected, and kicked out of his home for trying to protect his baby brother. The oldest witch feels like she couldn't be a worse mother. How can he call her a great mom when she has been anything but that?

She has to make it up to him first, get closer to him so that her knowledge of his identity won't push him away, but bring them together instead. Now that she knows who he is, she can't help but try to notice his every little habit.

In one morning she gets to find out more about him than she has in all the months she's known him. Chris never stands still, but when he eventually has to, he reaches behind his back to clasp his hands together, like she's often sees Leo do. She's pretty sure that it is the same thing marines do.

From what little he's told them, his world is at war. Demons roam the surface. Magic has been exposed. From her previous experience with Phoebe who is burned alive and children practicing their powers is dark alleys, it means that they're being hunted by everyone else.

"Is what common?" Chris inquires after he has added the unstable Eye of Newt. He breathes a sigh of relieve that the mixture hasn't blown up on him.

"The half-witch, half-whitelighter thing."

Chris visably deliberates answering. He knows that if he denies it, his mom might get an inkling as to his identity. Replying in the affirmative bring another load of consequences, but he agrees with himself that protecting his identity is a lot more important.

"It's not exactly common, but there are a lot more than there are now," is what he settles for eventually. "Actually, there is one that is even older than Paige."

That comment raises her eyebrow, urging him to elaborate. "The Marks family worked closely with yours during the Salem witch trials." Piper longs to inject that it is his family too, but bites her tongue. "There is a son who is a hybrid, though nobody knows exactly how his parents evaded the Elders and his father's identity is unknown. I still think a love potion was involved."

Piper nods in acceptance of the evasive explanation and bottles the vanquishing liquid. Chris has made a habit of it this morning to throw random ingredients into her potions. It's nice that he feels comfortable enough to do that, even though her terretorial behavior has to be supressed to allow him to do it. More than once she wanted to blow one of the injections up.

"Paige!" she shouts to the ceiling. It takes almost a minute, but she appears with the middle sister in tow. Both look slightly annoyed and briefly glare at their Whitelighter.

"Look," Paige starts, "I know you don't have a life, but we do. I know that Wyatt is evil in the future and all, but vanquishing as many demons as possible isn't helping him or us any!"

She is right of course, they all know that. If this had been about a random demon, it wouldn't have come this far. They've insulted Chris enough to last him several lifetimes, so he doesn't bat an eyelash, but Piper sees him supressing something with her newly acquired observation skills.

There is no flash of hurt, no look in his eyes. Visibly, there is nothing to indicate that the comment hit him harder than a feather. Call it motherly instinct, but she knows that Paige could've thrown a rock at him and hurt him less.

She kicks her sisters out, tells them to grab some left-overs downstairs. The oldest witch turns to her son.

"What was the plan when you came back here?" Piper inquires.

Chris is annoyed. He can handle the abuse his aunts throw his way, and Pipers habit of singling him out is getting increasingly dangerous. Also, their hunting time will be shorter because of this little talk.

"Stop speaking in riddles! What plan?" he snaps. He doesn't bother feeling guilty. He is tired of all of this. He needs Bianca, and he won't ever have her again. He just needs his fiancee to smile and tell him that he can do this. Chris needs to feel like he's real, while everyday is feeling more and more like he is disappearing.

"Whoever decided to send someone here must have had a plan to stop Wyatt from turning evil. What was it?"

Chris isn't about to admit that it was his idea to go back in time and stop Wyatt. He definitely isn't going to tell his mom that whatever is left of the resistance listens to her barely grown-up son. Neither will he speak of his subsequent banishment and the race against his former friends to protect his brother.

"The plan was to kill Wyatt before he grows up."

He looks her right in the eye as he says it.

Piper has been better about his mission, but he needs to get his message across. Time is running out, no more mistakes allowed. He came here trying to safe his family, but he won't hesitate to destroy it if he can't stop Wyatt.

He doesn't share his family's morals. He firmly believes that the life of his brother is not worth the thousands of lives, the exposure of magic and the rule of darkness. That doesn't mean he will let one of his 'friends' kill his defenseless brother when there are other options, better ones.

"Paige! We're leaving!" he shouts to his charge.


	5. Chapter 5

Piper is distracted during the hunt. She misses when Paige orders her to blow the slimy thing up. She doesn't participate in the improvised planning.

Chris notices, but only because he knows and hasn't stopped watching her. Phoebe throws her a weird look or two as well, but Piper's sister hasn't been talking to the older witch all that much since she and Jason got serious. It's no excuse. Of course it's not!

The Charmed ones are closer than any other siblings at their age. It's normal to want a separate social circle, some time away from the house filled with so many bad memories that they drown out all the good. Like Wyatt's birth, or… She can't think of anything else. Everything that was once good seems tainted. Even her little nephew will rule the world as evil in a decade or two.

They vanquish their targets. They get back to the surface without a scratch and the moment Piper is safe at home, everyone orbs away.

Piper's nose twitches in annoyance. She has never lived alone for this long, and the emptiness of the house is grating. Even Wyatt, who is not the greatest conversationalist, is gone. Her baby boy is with his father. She doesn't know how that escaped the Elders, but she has long since accepted that Leo can do anything he sets his mind to.

Speaking of sons..

"Chris, we need to talk." Even after all these years she still feels ridiculous taking to her ceiling. The strangeness of magic never really disappears.

Her second child doesn't answer his summons. It doesn't surprise her.

She marches to the kitchen. If there is one thing she needs to do while thinking, it is working with her hands. She heads to the fridge to find a note stuck on it's door. It's Chris' now familiar handwriting. Piper knows it to be his personal reminder of which potions are left to brew for the next few days.

Having nothing else to do, seeing as she isn't going to cook just for herself, she grabs the list and opens the potions cabinet. Neatly organized as always, she finds everything with a glance and reaches for a pair of pans.

She is half-way through the list when her grown-up son orbs in. He tries to speak, but she holds up a single finger to stop him, effectively shutting him up. She finishes the potion in under five minutes. He just stands there, doesn't fidget like most people seem to do. He drinks in the sight of his mom without being obvious about it.

She knows something, he is sure of it. Of the sisters, his mom keeps secrets the best. Phoebe is downright abysmal at it. Paige is a fairly good liar, but she is bad at it when it comes to people who know her well. Whatever Piper knows (,or thinks she knows), her sisters are unaware of it.

Piper leads him to the living room as soon as she's done. She doesn't utter a word, choosing to guide him with gestures. They sit on the opposite couches in the living room, a small coffee table between them.

The older witch folds her hands, leaning forward with her elbows resting on her knees. "I want you to move into the manor."

The words throw him of, and for a moment he looks completely startled. After regaining his composure he simply looks incredulous.

"I tell you that I'm here to kill Wyatt and you want me to live in the same house as him? Are you insane?" He mutters the last under his breath, but she hears it, even as he stands up and turns away from her.

"I trust you," she states.

"You trust me? You should kick me out, tell me to never set foot in this house again!"

His plan was to make her face reality and in the same step distance herself from him in an attempt not to get attached to his dead mother. Her counter-offer was both idiotically insane and alluring.

Her nose twitches in annoyance. "I did that once already. Wyatt trusts you, Chris, I do too."

It is a terrible excuse in her part, but he is overwhelmed enough that it seems the logical explanation.

"Why?"

Piper hesitates, unsure of how much she can reveal without scaring him off. "What you told me, about killing Wyatt." The phrase practically hurts on her tongue. "You haven't yet, and I learned my own lesson years ago."

Piper thinks back years, when Prue and Phoebe had debated with her on the subject. 'Save five strangers or one sibling.' They had learned their lesson that day, and it was obviously one Chris knew very well.

"Chris," she addresses him. Her throat feels scratchy and her eyes are watering, "Anyone else who came back from the future would have done it right away. Instead, you are going out of your way to protect him."

Her son nods seriously. He can agree with her on all of those points.

"Just know, that when you do run out of time, I will protect him as well as I can."

He nods again, annoyingly understanding. He doesn't tell her that he can disable her with a simply wave of his hand. While not as powerful as his brother, he is the son of a Charmed One and an angel. He doesn't worry about what will happen if he is forced to kill his brother.

He is quite sure by now that he won't exist in this time-line. He has driven his parents too far apart, can't exactly walk up to his father and ask him to :"Please conceive me."

His future non-existence has already changed the future too much. He messed up too many times. Chris knows that his time-line no longer matters, and considers letting more details slide.

"Put your stuff in Paige's room, most of the furniture is still there. It's about time you sleep in a proper bed." She sees his look, and interprets it perfectly. "I mean it, mister. You will be living here until you are ready to go home, not a day earlier."

He grits his teeth, this was the exact opposite of his plan, but he longed to sleep on something more comfortable than the sofa he had occupied for months, even if he doesn't sleep all that much. And really, what's the harm?

**A/N Everyone, thank you for the reviews! Every notification makes me smile!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Sorry for the depressing feel of this chapter guys, but I wanted to paint a picture of the future that Chris has lived, and war is never pretty.**

He sleeps for a good five hours in his newly appointed previously empty closet has already been filled with what little he's collected in the past few months. His aunt's stuff is stacked neatly in the corner. The boxes are piled high.

Chris wonders when his mom had cleaned the room up, and what her original plan for it was. He is no idiot. He knows her well enough that she is planning something.

He has no time to weasel out Piper's newest scheme as his father orbs into the room. He's used to Leo impromptu visits by now. It's funny that he and his dad get along better in this time-line than in his own.

The young Whitelighter isn't exactly sure why Leo has been treating him better since Piper threw him out. Maybe it's because they finally had something in common. After all, the Elder rarely dares to come back in fear of his wife's wrath.

Maybe he should try getting his parents back together in time to get him to exist.

He discards the idea immediately. Priorities. Save Wyatt first. This all happens before he is born either way. Although, if Piper isn't pregnant when this happens, this might all work out differently. His little sister might not be born either.

Despite his father's presence, Chris lets himself fall back onto the sheets and tries to smother himself with his pillow. Time-travel really sucks. He should've listened when his mom taught him that.

"Can I help?" Leo asks, interrupting his one-man pity-party. It only makes Chris try to smother himself harder. His own father never would've asked him that. That version of Leo was more likely to call him insane than believe that a teenage Chris saw his brother shoot fire from his hands. Demon fire.

He needs Leo's inside information about the Elders, which is what stops him from lashing out at a not-yet guilty version of his dad.

"Has my presence here already changed the future irreparably?" Chris asks through his muffling pillow. His dad seems to understand the words though, even if they come out indiscernible.

"We can't know for sure, but your hunting trips to the Underworld have probably already saved the lives of a dozen witches, two of which have great futures ahead now that their lifespan hasn't been cut in half."

"So the future has been changed already."

Leo sighs, suddenly looking much older and vulnerable. "It has, but if Wyatt goes down the wrong path again, he will doubtlessly undo all the work you have done here."

A bark-like laugh escapes from his son's throat. "You don't have to tell me. I have seen what he will do, witnessed it first hand."

Leo nods, contemplating Chris'words. "How well do you know Wyatt?" Leo asks.

The question itself could be quite harmless and random, but with Piper's behavior thrown in the mix, Chris smells trouble. Knowing that his dad will find out if he is lying, he decides to tell the truth as much as possible.

"Wyatt makes a habit of capturing me," he starts. Like always, his dad looks impassively at him, riling him up without trying. Leo has a way of doing that without even trying. It makes him want to hurt the Elder. Just a good old regular fist-fight.

"He enjoys putting me in some spooky underground hole and spends day after day, endless monologue after monologue, convincing me that we will be 'unstoppable' if I become his right-hand man." He snorts in the ridiculousness of it all. His brother is really an idiot if he thinks that. And he does, because he keeps trying. He keeps letting Chris escape.

"Occasionally, Wyatt gets angry enough to try and kill me. Usually though, he can't, so he wastes no time imprisoning other rebels in the hope that I will care enough about this one to make him stop."

The older angel still looks at him without twitching a muscle, and Chris runs his mouth in anger before he realizes it.

"He once got me close, when he decided that my best friend might do the trick. You will get to know her in the future, don't worry. After all, Melinda is your daughter."

Chris doesn't notice everything he just spilled, he only summons great glee when his normally absent father finally shows some emotion and sags into one of Paige's hideous chairs. Finally someone can feel the pain he felt when his baby sister was killed before his eyes.

In his time Melinda had been in hiding, raising and teaching orphaned witches and wizards when she was not even an adult herself, but so much like their mother. So instead of telling his resistance that another one of the Halliwell children had fallen, he had chosen to simply not mention it at all. Carrying another burden on his gradually sagging shoulders.

"Wyatt kills his own sister?" Leo asks, his voice almost childish in confusion.

The question brings Chris back to reality. He has gone too far this time. He can't say he feels guilty. In his future, after Piper was murdered, he went to Leo with Wyatt's odd behavior, convinced that their mom had been the only thing keeping his brother in line. Leo had managed to be in denial for so long that the Twice-Blessed witch had had the time to take over the Underworld quietly, the Elders none the wiser.

Not that it would've made a difference, but just having someone believe in him… It was too late now either way.

Leo's question is a rhetorical one, so he keeps his silence.

Chris wonders if he really is this cold. He barely reacted when Wyatt showed up with a bloody Melinda in tow, remembers whispering to her that it would all be over soon, sweet nothings. He wouldn't have been able to stop Wyatt, still seventeen and developing his stronger powers, while the older witch had all of his at his disposal.

They are flashes of memory, but he still sees Phoebe's older daughter Prudence, dressed in demon-black, watching as her cousin kills Melinda. That's when he realized that she'd done the same to her own sister, Parker. Understands that that's why Phoebe's youngest is so hell-bend on revenge.

Prudence is the only one who ever gave in to Wyatt's efforts off all the Halliwell off-spring. It's not something to be proud of. There are only four of them left, and the sides are evenly split between light and dark.

"The future is not a pretty place, Leo. Not for anyone on our side."

"I'm sorry," it is barely a whisper, but Chris hears it none the less. Leo looks up with tears running down his cheeks. Chris can't remember the last time he cried, probably his mom's funeral.

It's the first time he ever hears the words from Leo, and his surprise allow him to continue: "For not being a good father, for letting everyone down."

Chris has no idea what the future version of his father is doing, knows that he can be dead, in hiding or imprisoned. He never really cared much what the man was up to, never had the time to care. There are always things to do when you lead the only resistance: people who ask for help, attempts to escape from his newest underground prison, witches to train, potions to make, demons to kill.

He likes this younger version of his dad much better. This one is still human, for lack of a better word. This Leo knows he makes mistakes, misses his family openly, shows emotion.

However, he refuses to wave away Leo's apology like he did with his mom's. The Elder might not have been a bad parent to Wyatt, but he certainly had been neglectful with Chris and Melinda. Maybe this shock would be a wake-up call.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Thank you for all the attention, I'm having a boat-load of fun writing this.**

They don't get a chance to finish their conversation as Piper calls for her son from downstairs, breakfast on the table. Chris sends his father a look to invite him, not sure he wants to let Leo alone now, knowing his unborn daughter will be killed by his son.

The Elder keeps his head down and orbs away.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

He should've kept his mouth shut. For months he manages to keep everything from he three nosiest sisters in the world. One day his father barges in, and he loses his mind just by looking at the man.

His father is nothing more than an emotionless know-it-all with a superiority complex. The man never smiles at Chris like he does at Wyatt or their mom. Melinda is just slightly more cherished than him, but that's mostly because her cousins are her age and she often spends too much time at her loving aunt's places to notice her father's lack of presence.

This version of Leo is different. Balancing on the edge, not yet irreversible.

Little did Chris know…

A group of robed Elders gathers, seemingly standing on clouds in the heavens. All were hooded except for Leo, who has always been an exception among people he should consider peers. They crowd around him like a wall moving in on a claustrophobic.

A figure steps out from the circle. "Why are we here, Leo?" he asks calmly. Most of the Elders have a great respect for the man who saved their lives and helped them back home. They are protected better than ever these days, solely thanks to someone they previously considered nothing more than a troublesome Whitelighter.

"As you all know, Chris Perry came back from the future to stop evil from dominating the world." He wants to continue. A speech forming in his mind, ready to roll of his tongue without any effort.

"Chris Perry is here to stay!" interrupts another Elder, female this time. He recognizes her voice, Sandra. She has always supported him in everything but his attempt to send Chris back, and once again he is grateful.

"Like most of you have learned by now," Leo says, ignoring her, "that evil is my son Wyatt."

The words have to be forced from his throat. Melinda, not even an adult, at the mercy of his grown son. An imaginary scene pops into his mind, a girl much like Piper used to describe screaming as her big brother tortures her, the one who is supposed to protect her at any cost.

"Until today, I have not taken this threat as seriously as I should have. I was content to leave the situation to Chris, whom I may dislike, but is an uncommonly skilled witch and Whitelighter, with resources that seem to know more than we do. This is a mistake."

He takes a deep breath. The Elders stand calmly, taking in his words and contemplating them quietly. They gather the information and form their own conclusions.

"Chris needs help. He is over-worked and tired. The sisters and I have been hindering him or ignoring him instead of relieving his burden. Protecting the sisters is a full-time job, one he doesn't have time for."

He waits in silence for the question to be asked, the one he knows is coming. Another steps forward. There. "What do you suggest, Leo?" asks Jonnah.

He takes a deep breath, the entire future may depend on this. "I want to be reinstated to my old position as the Charmed One's Whitelighter, and assign Chris to Wyatt."

A murmur rises as the robed figures converse with each other. Leo knows very well that what he is asking is a long-shot, but he is needed home now.

"We cannot allow this, Leo. We understand that you miss your family, but we need you here." It is Roland who speaks for the group.

Much like his son earlier, Leo goes from calm to angry within seconds. The injustice of this forced abandonment rushing to the fore-front of his mind. "I have saved your lives, saved the world, left my family for months, missed dozens of my sons firsts and still you doubt me! This is not about going back to my family, this is keeping the world safe! Do you have any idea what the Twice-Blessed could do from his mother's womb? His active powers will be beyond our imagination. The threat that we faced months ago will be nothing! Wyatt will be able to destroy this place and all its inhabitants effortlessly!"

His breathing speeds up, his heart racing. They didn't understand, much like he hadn't before being confronted with the utmost truth. Unconsciously, he starts to gather all of Chris' slips, things Piper has told him, everything the Elders know is coming in an attempt to find something to break them like Chris broke him..

You break someone using their loved ones against them, their family.

A few days ago, Leo had laughed at Piper, but now it seems as clear as day. Chris is his son.

The revelation is not all that shocking, like he already knew. Piper had prepared him for this, warned him that it was a possibility.

Wyatt had killed his sister to torture his brother.

Leo feels like throwing up. The world Chris comes from is even worse than he had described. It only strengthens his resolve.

"You have no power over me. I owe you nothing," he whispers. It is crystal clear to the others though.

An arrogant Elder steps up, one who has not yet earned his place, even though he's been up here far longer than Leo. "We gave you life, and we can take it just as quickly."

This one obviously knows little about his own world. The protections on this place are fully Leo's. If he falls they are vulnerable to any attack. Demons will be able to come up and hunt them.

Leo is probably also one of the most powerful Elders gathered. Only the combined effort of a group would kill him, and that group will be punished severely if they do not have permission from the majority, which Leo knows they will not have. For some reason that he is not privy to, they need him alive and safe for some upcoming battle in the distant future.

He waits for someone else to speak up, doesn't wish to resort to blackmail and threaten the others with abolishing the wards.

"Stop with this nonsense, of course you can go home." It is a young one, Kevin, that speaks up. He is the child that the Charmed ones helped, the artist. Having Kevin among them has been a god-send. His sometimes child-like observations reveal mistakes and conclusions that older men and women often miss.

"Wyatt's future is the world's future, and they both need Leo," he continues, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Kevin's mentor nods as well from his place behind his charge. "Agreed."

Sandra nods as well, his mentor has always supported him. Ever since he started his relationship with Piper she has been there every step of the way.

With the assent of the two leading Elders, the others reluctantly give their permission as well, until the majority has voted for his motion.

He is finally going home to wife and sons.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Just a quick response to a guest-review. Yes, Gideon is Leo's mentor. The word is loosely used in my context, however, and means ****a ****wise ****and ****trusted ****counselor ****or ****teacher.**** Which applies to both Gideon and Sandra. Thank you for pointing it out though. For all the other reactions, thank you as well. It's great to know all of you like this.**

It's already getting dark outside when he finally orbs home.

Leo finds his family at the dinner table. Not only his wife and sons, but the other sisters as well. They are discussing one topic after the other, Piper making sure that Chris is involved in the conversation.

It's Chris who notices him first, relieved at seeing someone he could consider calling his dad unharmed after this morning's shock. In fact, the Elder looks a lot healthier. It's the lack of Elder robes, which make him look older than he is.

Piper notices him next, a big smile already on her face because she is surrounded by her loved ones. She looks right at home in between their sons, putting what looks like a curry on everyone's plate."You want some, Leo?" she asks, already marching to the kitchen for an extra plate. Men are always hungry, her husband no exception.

Phoebe and Paige both greet him, but remain seated. They feel obligated to be mad at him on behalf of their sister, and are plenty furious at him themselves.

"Why aren't you wearing your Elder robes?" Chris asks out of nowhere, forgoing any type of greeting. Piper walks in with the new plate and silverware in time to hear his question and stare at her husband.

"Leo?" she asks, not daring to hope anything.

The older man sits on the only empty seat. "Chris and I had a talk this morning," he starts. He has to find a way to break this news gently, and fix things with Piper. "I decided that I had underestimated the situation. I haven't been grateful for Chris' attempt to save us. I have been hindering his attempt to keep Wyatt safe."

Chris is looking suspicious already. The kid's smart. Everything he knows and thinks he knows is being gathered, dissected, discarded and jumbled until the conclusion arrives. "You are not an Elder anymore." It's a statement, no hint of a question mark present.

Leo grins. "Position-wise, no. They let me keep my active powers to make sure we all get out of this alive, though."

The younger Whitelighter squashes the urge to loose his temper. He grits his teeth as he forces out his next question. "And where does that leave me?"

"If you all agree, Chris will be assigned as Wyatt's Whitelighter, and I will return to my previous position."

Silence is the one who greets him now.

"And what makes you think we trust him with Wyatt?" Phoebe exclaims. She has been away a lot, often on the other side of the world.

She has missed just as much as her younger sister. The childless Halliwell sisters can't know that Chris and his parents have grown closer since they threw him out. That Chris spent this afternoon playing with Wyatt. That he helped Piper cook the meal currently cooling down on the table.

"I asked Chris to move in with me." This provokes several reactions. Actually, only two. Phoebe collapses back into her chair in denial while Paige starts ranting:

"I can't believe you're actually in a relationship with that! Chris endangered your son and keeps getting us in trouble. He is a lying neurotic freak."

Paige doesn't know what she expected, but three disgusted faces wasn't it. "What?" she asks.

Chris looks at her and notices that his parents look just as nauseated as he does.

"You know." He isn't exactly sure why he says it, his subconscious working too fast for his brain to keep up. But it fits. The behavior, the looks, the questions, the sudden need to protect the hated time-traveler.

Both immediately look relieved, while the others look confused. "Know what?" asks Phoebe.

Piper feels like a great burden is being lifted. "Chris is Wyatt's little brother."

Both her sisters look dumb-struck. They look to Leo for denial, but he just stares at his son with a stupid smile on his face. "He's our son."

**A/N Sorry for the shortness, stuck with writer's-block and not really sure how far I want to continue, if at all.**


	9. Epilogue

**A/N I decided not to continue this story, but Dominus Trinus**** convinced me to write an epilogue, so if you like it, that's whom you should thank.**

Life is not exactly easier after that. While the Charmed ones are finally complying with Chris' plans, the revelation of his identity stirs up a new load of trouble.

Leo and Piper are doing their best to reconcile their differences. They hope to have three kids to raise in the future and want to do it together more than anything. To know that Chris and their little girl are at stake makes them both nervous and elated.

But there is a lingering distrust on Piper's side. Chris thinks it's abandonment issues, recognizing her in his own behavior. Leo has left so many times already that she can't be sure he wont do so again. They both know he isn't sure either, which does little to boost the confidence of any of the three parties.

Chris is still waiting for Leo to turn into the emotionless and neglectful father he knows so well in the future, but finds him doing the exact opposite. His dad is trying harder than ever to be with his family at all times.

It's a whole new journey to find something they have in common, which neither of them bothered with in the future. He tries to be as open as possible without getting attached, which is not as hard as it probably should be. His mom is the exception, but he's not going to fool himself into thinking he isn't already.

The only one he really connects with on a less superficial level is his aunt Paige. Said witch is the only one who notices that, however, and is wise enough to keep her mouth shut for now.

The witch finds her nephew in the attic, as you can never find him anywhere else after dinner. Leo and Piper are out on a date, leaving Phoebe to babysit their youngest nephew. Her older sister is taking him for a walk, as he refused to sleep, leaving them alone in the house.

"Spill it," she commands.

What is it with the Charmed Ones and riddles? "Spill what?" he says without looking up from his page, uninterested. It sounds more like a rhetorical question, and she has a feeling that this is one of his many tactics to avoid a conversation.

"Why do you trust me?" He raises an eyebrow, hoping that she would explain by herself. "I die before you are even born, but you trust me more than everyone else in this house. Why?"

Right. He had told them about Paige's death during the titan attack. He should've been more careful, but she wasn't dead in this timeline, so did it really matter? Probably not.

"You did die, but with the titans attacking the Elders decided than the Charmed Ones couldn't use the distraction of loosing a sister and returned you to earth as a full Whitelighter. They couldn't help that the Power of Three had broken though."

Paige nods. That was not nearly as bad as it could've been. She had at least been able to stay around and help.

"When mom dies, Wyatt stops caring about hiding and starts practicing his newly acquired demonic-powers in the manor. Melinda has moved in with aunt Phoebe, but we refused to leave the house. When I go to Leo with stories of Wyatt using Darklighter powers and fireballs he writes me off."

She could imagine that very well. Her sisters had done the same thing when she accused Cole of being evil.

"I went to Phoebe next, but she has four kids to take care of, advice to give, love to spread around, and tells me that I should not be jealous, because I am powerful too and no less important, and that grieve can make you see strange things. Not in as many words of course, but you get the point."

If there is one thing their family is good at, it is denial. Still, Phoebe's words must have hurt. Chris doesn't seem to be as confident when it comes to Wyatt. Having a twice blessed brother can do that to a person. She remembers well how it felt to be a new witch among sisters whom had been practicing the art for years.

"When I went to you, you did believe me. You got me out off the manor and helped me move in with Grandpa."

Chris smiles at the mention of Victor, maybe he should visit soon. The man had been insecure around him for years, fearing that he would fail at being a grandfather as he had at being a father.

"Why didn't you move in with me?" Paige asks. Surely she had a guestroom to put her motherless nephew?

"I don't really get along with any of my cousins," Chris says sheepishly, forgetting that Paige didn't know she had any to speak of.

"I have kids? As in, more than one?" Paige lets herself fall into the nearest chair. She'd been alone all her life until she found her sisters. The witch had never even considered kids of her own.

Priorities. Right. She turns back to her nephew.

"We manage to interrupt Wyatt's plans a couple of times. We vanquished some of his allies in the underworld. We managed to bind his powers, twice, and I even summoned mom to haunt him, not that it did a lot of good, even though she gave us a lot of information to work with."

They'd left Phoebe out of it and charged her with raising the kids while they made the world a better place. Leo had stupidly managed to make the Elders think them liars, keeping them from helping in any way. Chris definitely shared his hatred for the robed beings with Piper.

His time-line's Paige had known that stopping Wyatt was more important than anything else. Her husband had been amazingly understanding, and only requested that she orbed in often enough so they could know she was okay.

"But we left him alone in the manor, and gave him access to the Nexus. After that, he was practically unstoppable. Demons moved to the surface, witches got killed, magic was exposed. And now I'm here, because you helped. You saved my butt countless times aunt Paige. You believed me. And that is why I trust you."

Wanting to get away from the emotional moment as quickly as possible, he tossed her a vial. "Time to hunt something slimy," he said with a grin.

Paige wrinkled her nose in disgust, but stood. "Let's go."

**A/N I hope you had fun, I know I did. There are far too little stories about Chris and his aunts, so this made a nice epilogue, even if I say so myself.**


End file.
